I have to agree 500$ tends to be the bare minimum for a 2 plant grow 150-200 on a light 70 -100 on a carbon filter system 100 on meters, oscillating fan, and timer , 90 on My cheap peat moss medium ,fabric pots, and dry fertilizers. 50 +on seeds
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I am happy I am tracking this thread! I am moving to a closet grow this weekend. 5 plants on a desk with sunlight and additional incandescent and fluorescent lighting. I am not worried about smell since we are a legal state. My concern is humidity since it is an arid region.
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@KeystoneCops
I feel like $300 is too small of a budget. A micro-grow (call it less than 1sqft) in a cardboard box with CFL or similar solution for lighting can happen inside a budget like that. You’ll want to search journals here to see how people approached that.Do the math though. Post your purchase list here. It adds up really quickly.
I do think itll add up quickly! And I appreciate your candidness+ honesty! I think listing my intended purchases is a great idea to help keep track and to also give plenty of room for further advice/recommendations if anyone is had better luck with other low price but decent quality mats/accessories. And yes! I have been working my way through some other low budget/stealthier grow journals hoping to find continual insight! Obviously no one is the exact same but I will continue to delve deeper. Also - no pressure but I’m curious if your tent plans/ideas include thoughts on the opening of the tent itself. I suppose I am also curious about the ventilation plans you had for beneath the door - no pressure, but I’ll be interested to learn more about both of these ideas!
@zipty420
I will let you know as I know for sure on the smells. Again from one noob to another, feel free to reach out to me. I personally have just gone through most of my trails and vividly remember them right now. Good luck homie, keep us posted.
Thank you !! I appreciate it!! I definitely will!
@GreenSnek
I have to agree 500$ tends to be the bare minimum for a 2 plant grow
Yah, if money was no object that would be my budget - but gotta make due with what I can and get the most bangs for my buck. Also - just planning on doing 1 plant at a time for space+ moreso smell /stealth reasons.
Glad to hear!! Welcome 
! I’m hoping my efforts dont fizzle out and things start coming to fruition! I really wish smell wasn’t as big a concern for me but it’ll be exciting to get this experience under my belt, and hopefully no major issues arise.
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I think you just wanna leave the closet door cracked, but I was looking to modify the door. What I’d do is put a blocky coat rack on the outside, padded out an inch or two though. And drill holes through the door behind it. The bottom of the door would let in some air, and could always be cut more to let more air through.
I’m glad you realize my candor is simply about being realistic. It just means you have to save more money.
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Current Intended Purchases List:
Light solution: VIPARSPECTRA Pro Series P600 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light 59.68 (free shipping) - or 69.99 from their website (free shipping) , both options have free 30 day returns.
Carbon filter:
Inline fan:
Ducting:
Timer:
Thermometer/humidity monitor:
Container:
Medium:
Amendments/nutrients:
Miscellaneous:
Genetics(seeds?): Switching to Blue Mystic for smell reasons - $36 (free shipping)(5 seeds, feminized)
-Haven’t committed (mentally) to any other materials yet- debating between fabric pot vs plastic , and what I’ll decide on soil. I do have 20lbs of pure Epsom salt that could be used for ph reasons but will probably be more of a backup fix, hopefully whatever soil and ‘nutes’ i decide on will call for easy maintenance. Any suggestions on the other materials that havent been decided would be appreciated! And anything I can pick up at my local Lowe’s/Home Depot is an added plus for discretion for me(planning to check out their prices on fabric pots+pot options soon, but I think I can get away with a 5 gallon fabric pot or bucket for the grow <$10)!
Also because it has a heat tank (or runs cooler than other options) I read somewhere I could place it closer to the plants than normal. I believe this would suffice for a single plant in a <2x2ft grow area, but if not , suggestions are welcome!
The absolute bare minimum light I can recommend is a Mars hydro 1000 for 140 or a diy hlg rspec 135 for 180(with the code" dude "if you want a light that you’ll never need/want to upgrade from)
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Still a big time Newby but so far I really like my Mars hydro tsw2000, its almost perfectly square and covers the canopy in my 3x3 well. Heat isn’t too bad with drivers outside tent. I don’t have a par meter but lux is right on par with the girls happy place by what research I can find. Just my 2 pennies
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300??? lol man get what you put in
Hey what’s up. I’m no pro grower by any means but I’ll throw in my 2 cents.
Alright. This is your first grow. That light will work for 1 plant. No it’s not gonna give you 420 magazine looking buds but it will work. I did veg, flower and revegged of my mother plant on a $10 Walmart shop light I modified with 6 extra 5k led socket lights from Walmart. No I didn’t get massive, dense, top shelf buds but I did learn and improved and kept on growing. You can do the same.
Here is what I would do on a $300 budget.
Light - you have
Tent - $60- go to Amazon look up coolgrows 2x2x4
Cheap tent but will get you thru a few grows
To see if you want to do/invest more
Exhaust - $28 - Amazon Vivosun 4” 195 cfm blower
Filter - $30 - Amazon Vanleno 4inch Carbon Filter
Humidifier - $30 -from Walmart
Dehumidifier I wouldn’t worry about cause it’s winter there less humidity in the air you will be fine without one.
Vivosun ph and tds meter - $20 - Amazon
PH up and PH down - $21 - Amazon general hydroponics brand is great
Timers - $3 each - Walmart
Hygrometer $10 can be bought at Walmart, Lowe’s, Amazon, etc.
Pots - I would go with fabric pots but either will work. You can use land scape fabric at any Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and many other places and make your own pots as well.
Soil - fox farm ocean forest is best.
I’ve seen people do good with fox farm happy frog also.
You WILL need other supplements and amendments for the soil as the plant progresses tho.
So someone else will have to fill you out there. I’m a hydro grower.
I have heard fox farm trio is good.
Again from Amazon about $35 for the trio pack which will def get you thru at least 2 grows.
Get a fan for inside the tent. Best is an oscillating one but a reg desk fan will work. Zip tie it at canopy lvl to the tent pole. You NEED that air circulation especially in flower.
I would remove your light in the ceiling of your closet. Easily done.
Put a lamp in the room for light if you need to see in the closet.
Put the carbon hanging inside the tent and vent into the light hole in the ceiling.
Boom old air out the ceiling (deodorized) and new air incoming under the door.
Also remember Black Friday sales are coming soon. So you might be able to wait just a little and get everything even cheaper.
With Xmas around the corner it’s very common to get packages in the mail if you need a what’s that excuse. 
So there ya go. If you look around you can get all that for UNDER $300.
NO your not gonna grow top shelf grade A buds
NO you not gonna grow massive plants with stalks the size of pop cans
YES you will grow good weed
YES you will learn and improve if you like it
The main thing here is just Grow It man. Take that leap with minimal gear and see what’s up. See if you like it. See if you wanna invest more and if this is for you.
Happy Growing. Hope you get the dank.
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Thank you for this detailed response!!! It is very much appreciated!! I will keep this thread updated as things start to get finalized (and then probably add a grow journal in that thread section if/when we get there 
). You are very right about black friday and holiday shipments!
Per the light I think I’ll bump up to p1000 and I feel confident about that being plenty of light honestly, at least for the time being and especially for one plant.
I appreciate all the rec’s on the other items as well! I do think I’ll buy a dehumidifer because the lack of circulation in the room - but I was hoping to be able to skimp on a humidifier (in part because I think I’ll have more issues with higher humidity in the space) because I have a simple ‘oil diffuser’ (add a few drops of essential oil to a cup or two of water within its chamber) - that I can opt to just keep water in and change out each day if humidity is low (In either case I’d probably keep it outside of the grow room, near the closet opening, so air getting pulled in will have a decent amount of access to it. Maybe a humidifier works differently or produces smaller water molecules but Im thinking the ‘oil diffuser’ with just water will work decently(time to do some more research 
).
Tent I think I will definitely be constructing vs buying mainly (aside from price) because of customization ability. I really need something big enough (or have the option to be big enough, still brainstorming how I’ll set it up) to be able to harvest and dry within the tent to alleviate smell. Since theres only one plant I’ll convert the growing space for that part of the process- anddd, Im still brainstorming, honestly, what makes the most sense - but having another tent I can basically set up at the entrance of the first tent to give me some space to sit (we shall see how it all comes out).
At this point- I think I can make a decent setup within the space and be successful - my main concern is smell. Another big worry is that I’ll be pretty close to the grow room a lot of the time (especially with Corona season) and I’ll be desensitized to the smell. Hearing posters’ talk about having visitors or neighbors immediately notice the dank at their doorway gives me anxiety LOL - seeing as I dont even want the smell to drift around the interior of the house to begin with (but also- who knows how diligent they were about smell and low odor strains etc). Im hoping a carbon filter really will minimize most of the smell to just the grow room, and a little lingering into my room is fine- but it would be nightmare to wake up one day and have it reaching downstairs and in the living space.
I dont mind spending a little extra on a good carbon filter setup - I do think airlfow is main issue I’ll need to focus on with smell (my room runs a bit warmer than the rest of the house, but I’m hoping air flow will work in my favor in the coming months). A good carbon filter is also key. I will look into the ones you recommended of course!
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I have a wax warmer so cinnamon is the first scent visitors smell LOL!
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@calsFarm Hey brother. I told ya I would keep you posted on my vent system as it goes. I am a couple of days past two weeks into flower now. Haven’t noticed any smells in the house yet other that bong rip smells anyway lol. Unzip the tent and oh wow, they will smell up the room fast. If pics smelled…
Keep it up brother and keep us posted. Have a gooood day
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I am growing Auto northerns with a p600 light and although there growing like crazy I have no idea how well the buds will turn out, I originally planned on the 1000w and wish I would have just to know it had enough light and it’s also been mentioned my lighting is probably too weak
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Different budgets lead to different “stuff” lighting etc. It’s how you make the most of it - is all that matters.
Looks like a tight spot for one plant. But some LST and careful attention you can fill that up 
I agree on the budget and that’s exactly why I went with the p600, add soil, nutes and grow room I was nearing $200, once seeds arrived I put together what I could asap, on LST I tried it at 3 weeks and possibly over watered because my plant was leaning over with roots showing in fox farms ocean soil, I cut the plant ties and put a stick to hold it up and packed soil around it and it’s doing well, not sure what I did wrong on LST or if I even did it correctly
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The plastic and the black out sheet close off the area. Plastic is duct taped to wall on 1 side. Then i rigged some velcro to secure the other side
What about a small 2x2x4 tent and put a 4"inline duct fan (AC Infinity) outside the tent sucking in. I have a 2x2x4 with a 4x16" TerraBloom filter which removes ALL the smell. Take a peek–> Amazon.com
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